Delores Nevils was born on June 30, 1932 in Tewskbury, Massachusetts. At the age of six months, she went to live with her grandparents on the Ogeechee River in Davisboro, Georgia, and became rooted in the Geechee culture. Nevils moved to New York City when she was seven and attended elementary and middle schools there. She later attended Washington Irving High School and Manhattan Community College. She received a scholarship from Cooper Union Fine Arts School and was a member of the Art League in Manhattan.
     Nevils has a very outgoing personality which attracted people and animals to her over the years and she attributes this to the myriad of jobs she has had. She has worked with children, in television, in major department stores in Manhattan, in banking, in public relations as co-ordinator at the Personnel Employment Agency. She also was the secretary to Poppy Cannon, the Food Editor of the Ladies Home Journal, where she increased her knowledge of food and recipes.
    Nevils moved to the Low Country of South Carolina in 1977. She has worked as a sign painter, a contributor to the local newspaper and is a member of the Penn Club at Penn Center on St. Helena Island. She also helped to incorporate the Gullah Festival of South Carolina, Inc. in 1987.
Nevils resides on St. Helena Island in South Carolina where she met Jonathan Green in 1989. Sharing a deep interest in the arts and local history, they became close friends. Amadeus, The Leghorn Rooster is their first collaboration.